choke element

Chapter 22 The Old City
Guo Ning climbed up to the top of the slope and looked at the Guchengdian.

The evening wind hung over the woodland, shaking the leaves, whining and snapping.But Guo Ning still carefully controlled his footsteps, avoiding any movement.

Earlier, he retreated into Hebei from the back of the mountain with a large group of rout soldiers, took the route from Qingbaikou to Zhuozhou, and then followed the mountainous area to turn southwest. Guchengdian was one of the routes.

After more than a year, he still has an impression of this settlement.

This place is close to the mountains in the north, and there are many medicinal materials, so it used to be the place where several big medicine merchants in Zhuozhou settled down.In addition, there are also wine shops in the villages and towns, which produce the well-known good shochu in all directions.

The rout passed here the year before last.Hundreds of thousands of people have just suffered huge casualties. Under the terrible mental pressure, many people's emotions wander between mania and collapse.And because of the lack of food and clothing, hunger and cold, the military discipline was corrupted.

At that time, even Guo Ning himself could not help but rush into the home of a local rich man with others, and forcibly borrowed food with a knife.

After all, the officers and soldiers of the Great Jin Dynasty were not the legendary masters. They would not demolish houses if they died of freezing, or plunder them to death without starvation.After Guo Ning, several groups of rout soldiers passed by, and soon the entire village was empty.

It wasn't until last year that Han Renqing, an old soldier whom both Guo Ning and Li Ting were familiar with, settled down in the Gucheng store, and slowly recruited military and civilian companions.Although the population is less than [-]% of the peak period, and the scale of the construction of the village is far from what it used to be, at least some paddy fields have been reopened and a few cows have been raised.

I heard that Han Renqing has recently recruited a master wine maker, and plans to start selling some shochu again.Many people think this idea is absurd, but it is a fact that Guchengdian is considered to be rich among the general embarrassment of the defeated strongholds.

Looking at it now, many people in the village and town died, and the cattle also died.

In the open space in the center of the village, corpses were piled up in disorder.It was far away, the sky was dark, and they could be vaguely identified, as if there were both men and women.

Beside the corpse was the skeleton of a cow.The beef was picked clean and the bones were white.

Beside the corpse, some soldiers were cutting beef; The soldiers held knives and axes and yelled at a group of bound people by the wall, gesticulating twice from time to time, seemingly threatening.

When he saw Han Lai'er's body just now, Li Ting was furious.At this moment, he had already adjusted, and only cursed softly: "Killing people, and eating beef! These bastards!"

Guo Ning patted him on the shoulder and signaled him to concentrate: "I heard that the house in the Gucheng store was refurbished by Lao Han. Now it seems that the inner and outer circles are indeed perfect. The outer circle has a high wall For shelter, there are ditches on the north and west sides of the high wall, and outside the main gate on the south side, there is a wall of sheep and horses, which is not easy to use soldiers. As for the east... there are fields in the east, the terrain is open, and the high wall in this direction has also collapsed in four places..."

"One, two, three, three places." Li Ting reminded.

Guo Ning paused, raised his finger and pointed: "Look behind that big tree in the north."

Li Ting frowned and looked at it for a while, then nodded slightly.

"Yang An'er's subordinates poured in from these four places." Guo Ning continued: "There are about 150 people staying in the outer circle now, among them, there are forty or fifty people waiting in the open space to divide the beef, and guarding the prisoners. There are ten of them. There are also sixty or seventy people sitting idle on the north and south terraces, and there are a few others standing guard at the main gate of the village, and there should be a few more farther away from the main gate."

Li Ting pondered for a while, then continued to nod.

"The row of big houses in the inner circle are all on the north side of the open space. The big house faces inwards on three sides, so you can't see the movement inside, and you don't know how many people there are. Fortunately, some soldiers are moving around the house. It seems that we were there just now. The ones we ran into on the other side of the Fu River?"

"It's them, that's right, one hundred soldiers. Including the 150 outside, the total is 250 people. We can fight a dozen!" Li Ting was eager to try.

"It's about the size of a general, well-equipped." Guo Ning said solemnly: "In addition, the villages of Beiyushang and Nanyushang, fifteen miles to the north, are also under Yang An'er's control. We have to move quickly. Otherwise, they may be attacked by reinforcements."

"Let Wang Shixian lead some people and pretend to be on the east side. I will lead people to rush in through the main entrance. Guo Liu, you will follow. In a moment, they will be defeated!"

For example, Li Ting and other soldiers who fought fierce battles along the frontier did not take the soldiers and horses transferred from Shandong seriously in their bones, but Yang An'er is no small matter after all. Guo Ning thought for a while: "Let's go back first and see Has Master Hui Feng gained anything?"

Li Ting frowned: "Where did Monk Luo go?"

"Master Huifeng has his own calculations, let's go first." Guo Ning said: "Yang An'er's troops are not ordinary rebels, I guess, there are secret sentries on this high forest slope."

"Hey! You didn't say it earlier!" Li Ting lowered his already low voice, "Let's go, let's go."

Guo Ning's judgment is correct, there is really a hidden whistle on Gao Linpo.

Being on this slope, the line of sight is enough to cover the entire village, so it is an excellent sentry position.If Guo Ning is stationed in the village, he will also set up a sentry on the slope, which is common sense.

However, there are several miles of luxuriant forests on the slope that obstruct the line of sight. It is easy to look down at the top of the slope, but it is difficult to look around.And because the night wind was picking up, it was difficult to hear nearby movements.

In this regard, Yang An'er's subordinates are ultimately lacking compared to the outstanding figures who survived the battle in Northern Xinjiang.

So Guo Ning and others retreated safely.

And when the two were going down the slope, in the north of the woodland, in a mountain depression that was more sheltered from the wind, Yang Feixiang, the secret sentry sent out by Ji Junli, stood up from the bushes, beat his waist, and shook his burqa litter on.

Yang Feixiang is from Zizhou, Shandong, a fellow countryman of Guo Yao'er, the two of them have a similar age difference, they both participated in the rebellion during the Taihe period, and they can be regarded as old thieves for many years.

However, Guo Yaoer has the ability to march and fight, and soon became the leader of Yang An'er's entourage, and Yang Feixiang has always been a pawn.Moreover, it is still the kind that is not paid much attention to.

Half an hour ago, he watched his old acquaintance Guo Yaoer lead his subordinates into the Gucheng store, and then the soldiers in the village began to get busy.

He watched the soldiers slaughter cattle and sheep with knives and axes, saw that the bonfire was lit, and the meat was thrown into the cauldron and simmered, but no one came to replace him... Did he forget me?

When they distributed the money just now, it wasn't my turn!Just slipped me two banknotes!One ten consistent, one consistent!What is it worth?Eleven consecutive cash payments, last year I could exchange for a piece of scone, but in the past two months, I can't even exchange for a handful of brown rice!

There is beef to eat right now, but don’t give it to me!What about the shift changer?Where did you go?
"When I get back below, I'll go to find Guobaier to talk! Ji Junli is not a good person, Guobaier must give me a bite of meat!" Yang Feixiang grumbled, walked a few steps outside the col, and walked a little. Observe the surrounding situation.

Naturally, there is nothing to gain.The setting sun had already set at the end of the vast land, within the range of sight, large blocks of shadows were like ink, and they were about to join together.

He looked it over and felt that it was windy at night, so he planned to hide in the bushes in the valley again.

However, as soon as he turned around, there was a fat, round-waisted bald man in front of him, grinning grinningly at him.

Yang Feixiang was about to shout immediately, but the shout was still in his throat, and a fist the size of a casserole hit the side of his neck.

He felt a sharp pain and passed out.

The bald man is Monk Luo.

Before he became a monk in Xuanzhong Temple, he served as the village envoy under the command of Qianhu in the north of Datong.He was in charge of a small village with not many people; but no matter if there was a large army dispatched from Datong Mansion, or a small number of elites went to the grassland to recruit troops, he would lead his sons and daughters to serve as scouts.

After more than ten years, I don’t know that I have worked hard dozens or hundreds of times. This skill has been perfected, just like the saying in the art of war: "Seeing the water marks, you will know that the enemy will help sooner or later; watching the movement of the tree, you will know that the enemy is coming. the gallop."

Finding the secret sent by the enemy in the dark night is almost impossible in the eyes of others.But in the eyes of Monk Luo, all the signs are clear enough to trace, but the difference is only the time spent.

At this moment, he succeeded in one blow, and he returned with Yang Feixiang in his hand. He had another person in his hand, but his steps were still light.

After a few steps past the Fu River, Li Ting came up to greet him: "Monk, have you succeeded?"

Monk Luo lifted up the living person in his hand and showed it to Li Ting: "Why is this so difficult?"

After finishing speaking, he punched down, waking the prisoner Yoyo awake.

Guo Ning, who was behind, raised his voice slightly: "Master Huifeng, you can ask, as soon as possible."

Monk Luo didn't refuse, looked around, and carried Yang Feixiang to a rocky clump beside a river.

After a while, he turned back.The two wide palms and the arms were all dripping with blood, and the gray bunt on his body was also bloody, smelling fishy.

There was obviously no sound, but I really don't know what he did to the captives, how could the blood flow like this?
"How do you say it? How many people are there in the village?" Guo Ning asked.

"First, 230 people from Jijunli's department entered the village. There were 80 soldiers in his department, all of whom were elite. Then they went to Guobai'er's department with [-] soldiers, accompanied by Yang An'er's nephew, Jiulangjun Yang. friend."

Guo Ning was taken aback.

"Fortunately, Master Hui Feng is here!" He thanked, and looked at Li Ting, Li Ting also frowned.

The two of them have always kept a respectful distance from Yang An'er's Tiewa Warrior Army, but they still have a basic understanding.They knew that the formation of this army when it was recruited was the same as that of the military guards set up by Sejong in Daxing Mansion, the central capital.

That is to say, one governor leads two capital generals, one capital general leads ten lieutenants, one lieutenant leads a team of two officers, and one team leads a team of twenty.

Because one army serves as two, usually a general has a force of about 250 to 300 people, of which the army is less than a hundred.

Yang An'er himself is the deputy governor, and the two governors under his command are Li Siwen and Liu Quan, and the four generals are Zhanhui, Wang Min, Ji Junli, and Wang Lin, and the other one is of the same status as the governor of the capital. Country bites.

According to the strength of Han Renqing's troops, almost all of them can be wiped out by sending one general.

So before, both of them thought that what they bumped into here just now was the subordinate of a certain general who attacked the Gucheng store.But I never thought that there was another team here, too?

There are more than 300 people, more than half of whom are soldiers!Both Ji Junli and Guo Yaoer are here!
This is not easy to deal with.

　A few days ago, I was doing quarantine preparations, so I bought a lot of self-heating rice.

Because the self-heating rice was so delicious, I couldn't help but eat it all in one sitting.

Notified this morning, I was really quarantined...but now I only have Laotan sauerkraut noodles at home...

　
(End of this chapter)